SIGN OF THE TIMES: A Bears fan sits in the stands holding a signing referring to two of the Jets' latest scandals -- the Sal Alosi tripping incident vs. the Dolphins and Rex Ryan's foot-fetish scandal -- during the Jets' 38-34 loss to the Bears yesterday in Chicago. Photo: Anthony J. Causi

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CHICAGO — Someone wanted to know what the celebration was like, the moment the Jets realized the silver lining in their 38-34 loss to the Bears yesterday was a berth in the playoffs.

The team’s celebration had bled through the walls while their head coach was speaking, and now their quarterback was taking his turn at the podium.

Mark Sanchez had pressing business first, though.

“I need to be better than that,” he said. “I need to give us a chance to win the game. That’s my job. And I didn’t do that.”

It tells you something about where Sanchez is as a player, and the maturity level he has reached already, that he was looking so glum.

After all, the day had been a good one at the end: They were in the postseason, making Sanchez 2-for-2 in his NFL career in that department.

And Sanchez had also gone toe-to-toe with one of the league’s biggest gunslingers in Jay Cutler, throwing for 269 yards and a touchdown, all with a sore shoulder.

“There’s still a lot of good lessons to learn,” he said.

We learned a little more about Sanchez yesterday, too.

“He’s a tough, tough guy,” running back LaDainian Tomlinson said.

“He showed a lot of people something,” center Nick Mangold said. “But we’ve seen it since he’s been here.”

The fact that next week’s home finale with the Bills has been rendered completely irrelevant, though the Jets can still claim the top wild-card seed, means that Ryan will likely play Sanchez for only a series or two, if at all, before yielding to his backups.

That situation isn’t necessarily ideal for Sanchez — “This isn’t my 18th year, I need as many reps as possible,” he said — but keeping his shoulder in working shape is the Jets’ most important goal now.

“Just trying to keep it warm is the important thing,” Sanchez said. “I did an OK job of doing that. We’re just taking it day-to-day, but it is pretty sore. It’s a matter of playing and fighting through it.”

Which Sanchez did, despite not being able to pull off a last-second miracle to go along with the Cleveland, Detroit and Houston pelts on his wall.

“On a lighter note,” he said, “to play the way we did today, lose the game and still make the playoffs — that’s the best news you could ever take after a loss.”